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N.B.A. Talks Break Off, Threatening November Games

Negotiations to end the N.B.A. lockout collapsed again Thursday night, in spectacular fashion, with more acrimony, mistrust and fiery rhetoric, and despite the involvement of a federal mediator.

The talks ended about 7 p.m., after nearly 30 hours spent over three days at a Midtown Manhattan hotel. It is the third time this month that the owners and players have walked away from each other with a feeling that they could not move any further.

The last breakdown led to the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season. This one guarantees that another two weeks, the balance of the November schedule, will be wiped out soon. The prospect of losing the entire season looms ever larger.

“Ultimately we were unable to bridge the gap that separates the two parties,” Adam Silver, the N.B.A. deputy commissioner, said about 30 minutes after the parties separated. He added, “We’re saddened on behalf of the game.”

No additional meetings are scheduled, and the federal mediator, George H. Cohen, has effectively withdrawn from the process.

Although Cohen said he would be available if talks were to resume, he issued a bleak assessment, saying in a statement, “No useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to continue the mediation process at this time.”

The finality was somewhat surprising, given the modest progress that league officials and the players union had made this week, with Cohen’s assistance.

The sides narrowed the gap on revenue sharing proposals, with the N.B.A. offering a 50-50 split, and the players reducing their request to 52.5 percent. But that gap represents about $100 million in today’s terms, and $1 billion over the life of a 10-year deal, which is what the owners are seeking.

“They made it clear that if our position was that we were unwilling to move beyond 50 percent, there was nothing else to talk about,” said Silver, who was leading the N.B.A. contingent in place of Commissioner David Stern, who was ill. “And that’s when the discussions broke off today.”

Silver’s implication set off union leaders, who said it was the owners who essentially issued an ultimatum — an even split or nothing — and called off the talks.

“I want to make it clear that you guys were lied to earlier,” said Derek Fisher, the president of the players union.

Fisher said that the players “continued to express our willingness to negotiate,” but that the owners refused to budge — or to discuss other issues — without the union’s acceding to the 50-50 offer.

The parties had made progress on a number of smaller items, like the midlevel exception, adjustments to the rookie-scale system and a so-called amnesty provision that would allow teams to waive players to clear salary-cap room.

They spent about 24 hours together in a 32-hour span between Tuesday and Wednesday, including a 16-hour session.

Silver said he began the day feeling optimistic. Officials from the players’ side also felt that progress was possible when the talks reconvened early Thursday afternoon, after the N.B.A.’s board of governors meeting.

Union officials suggested that something changed during that owners meeting. According to the union, Paul Allen, the Portland Trail Blazers’ owner, was a surprise participants at the labor talks, and had been sent to deliver the owners’ message — that they would move no further.

“This meeting was hijacked,” said Jeffrey Kessler, the union’s outside counsel and its lead negotiator. “Something happened in that board of governors meeting. We were making progress.”

Allen was sent, Kessler said, to deliver a message from the owners — “and that view was, ‘Our way or the highway.’ That’s what we were told. We were shocked.”

Kessler spoke long after league officials had departed. The N.B.A. did not immediately respond to his remarks.

The talks took place without Stern, who had flulike symptoms. He communicated with Silver and Peter Holt, the chairman of the N.B.A.’s labor committee, by phone throughout the day.

Hope for a deal is growing dimmer with every breakdown. The parties were deadlocked when the owners imposed the lockout on July 1 and have since broken off talks three times — on Oct. 4, Oct. 10 and Thursday. As the 2011 calendar shortens, the consequences increase, along with the gloomy rhetoric.

Billy Hunter, the union’s executive director, said the owners intended all along to push the players to this point, to cancel games and to force them to miss paychecks.

“I’ve known from the get-go, at least two or three years ago, that in fact it was the N.B.A. owners’ plan to lock out, break the union, break the resolve of the players and impose upon the players and the union the system they wanted,” Hunter said.

The earlier board of governors meeting was mostly spent discussing a more generous revenue-sharing plan. Silver reiterated that the revenue-sharing pool would be tripled, to at least $150 million per year, and quadrupled in later seasons.

Although the details remained confidential, the league’s poorest franchises could receive up to $15 million a year under the new formula, according to a person who has seen the plan. The two biggest payers would be the Los Angeles Lakers, who are expected to contribute $50 million a year, and the Knicks, who are expected to contribute $30 million a year.

A version of this article appears in print on October 21, 2011, on page B16 of the New York edition with the headline: N.B.A. Talks Break Off, Threatening November Games. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe